Russian Asset Seizure in Belgium and France: Does It Mean War?

Our reader and fellow blogger Nemo has asked this question in one of the previous articles.

What happened?

Pre-history: Shortly before the Sochi Olympics Putin personally pardoned a former Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was serving a sentence on official charges of tax evasion and money laundering. Charges that didn’t make it into the court verdict were much more serious: Khodorkovsky and his crony Lebedev were about to secretly sell-out strategic Russian oil assets over which they took control in the ’90s, during the wholesale looting of what was all of Russian people’s common property.

Khodorkovsky was literally about to board the plane to the US, where he was to make the deal of the century – sell his company Yukos to the US oil interests. In exchange, he was promised an easy election and post of the Russian president. The idea was for him to preside over the completion of the demolition of Russia. The process of the demolition of the country was stopped in its tracks by Putin, and Khodorkovsky’s handlers couldn’t wait to get back on the destructive mode.

However, in his arrogance Khodorkovsky didn’t realize how much the Russian government knew about his plans. He was arrested and tried on the superficial and easily provable money laundering charges.

The real story of Khodorkovsky’s plan and his exposure constitutes one of the main themes of my mystical thriller THE EARTH SHIFTER. Read the book here. Excerpts are here. I also write about Khdorkovsky and other Russian oligarchs in ESR3: OLIGARCH WARS. A Russian oligarch is also one of the main characters in my thriller GOLD TRAIN.

The biggest proponent and intermediary for Khodorkovsky’s early release was Germany, including personally Merkel, citing Khodorkovsky mother’s poor health and other humanitarian reasons. The condition for his release was that he wouldn’t go back into politics. Both Khodorkovsky and his German guarantors swore to that. But then again, Germany swore in 1989, as Gorbachev allowed Germany’s reunification (over USA’s objections!) and as Soviet troops pulled out of Germany, that the unified Germany wouldn’t be a part of NATO…

Today:

Of course, the moment Khodorkovsky was out of jail, he immediately started talking about running for Russian presidency, interfering in Ukraine and rejoicing over anti-Russian sanctions.

Another thing he and his cronies, some of whom are hiding in Israel and others in London, have done was to re-initiate a multi-billion-dollar lawsuit against Russian Federation for restitution to Yukos shareholders.

This lawsuit was attempted several times before and EU courts threw it out every time. This time, however, the entire EU and US jumped on it as if it was an anchor to which they needed to hang on for dear life.

What was different this time? Simply put – Ukraine, Crimea, Donbass and anti-Russian sanctions. Yukos ‘shareholders,’ in fact a lot of shadowy entities, most of which were hiding behind bogus fronts, have their own interests. Their goal is to try to squeeze as much money as possible out of Russia after the nationalization of Yukos, following Khodorkovsky’s conviction. They have judged correctly that this time the Hague court would look favorably upon their claim for political reasons, and they were right.

No question, this lawsuit was suggested by the US and coordinated with the EU – the US fingerprints are all over its timing. Shortly after filing, the court in Hague delivers verdict: Russia is to pay Yukos shareholders $50 bln. Russia’s reply: we won’t abide by the decision of the court we don’t recognize.

As a result, Russian property and asset arrests and seizures began in France and Belgium. The amount cited is so far $1.3 bln. These include: arrests of bank accounts of the Russian companies with any stake by the Russian State, such as Rosneft; Russian Orthodox Church properties; Russian embassy, EU/Council of Europe representation diplomatic accounts.

Diplomatic accounts are illegal to seize in any country. If Russia wanted to escalate, such act could be construed as a declaration of war. Both France and Belgium ‘apologized,’ saying they have an absolutely and totally independent legal system; as such, they ‘didn’t know’ of the diplomatic accounts being seized and that they would release them.

Seizure of the Russian Orthodox Church property (such as Russian Orthodox places of worship) isn’t just illegal, since it’s not a property of the Russian State, but also despicable from the human and spiritual standpoint. It’s low even for them. Let’s recall that a similar war on Russian Orthodox Church property and threats against priests are taking place in Ukraine. All this appears to be a very well-coordinated action – and as my readers know, I am non-religious and therefore my point of view is neutral and detached. Read: Pope Francis and World Religions – Karma and Consciousness.

As to the property of the Russian banks and Russian companies, it’s more complicated. At present, Lavrov and other ministers announced they will use all legal means necessary to protest this decision and that companies can feel free to file claims in the Russian court, in return for which Russian court can seize appropriate assets of foreign countries in Russia.

Why Belgium and France?

This is a trial run, for now. They want to see how far they can get and what Russia’s response will be.

It’s interesting that at the very same time during the St. Pete Economic Forum, dozens of business leaders from all over Europe tripped all over themselves to assure Russia they wanted to continue doing business. Afraid for their properties in Russia? German business, as usual, was some of the most active during St. Pete forum.

Why is it being done?

Let’s face it, my early 2014 predictions that US/EU won’t achieve their goals in Ukraine, are coming true. Ukraine isn’t working out for them the way they wanted. Moreover, anti-Russian sanctions aren’t working either. Recall my prediction that in the long-run sanctions will be beneficial to Russia as they will stimulate sovereign innovation and production.

Let’s also face it, certain forces in the US and EU are livid. They can’t accept that things didn’t go their way and they want revenge. The pinprick of the Yukos decision is one of those pinpricks Russia, unfortunately, has to endure. Certainly, $50 bln isn’t a huge blow for Russia. Pinprick it is. It’s also a test: how will they respond? Can we dislodge them by doing it? Will Putin lose his cool?

And what if there are many other pinpricks coming at Russia at the same time? Can we make Russians completely lose it if we prick them from all directions? Let me remind everyone that that’s how WWI and WWII started – lots of humiliating pinpricks, resulting in countries losing their cool.

But Putin’s Russia isn’t Hitler’s Germany or Austria-Hungary.

That’s why all these NATO drills, deployment of thousands of tanks and other heavy machinery to Russia’s borders in Eastern Europe. It’s a bigger pinprick. Macedonia’s (FYROM) recent announcement that it will only allow Turkish Stream through its territory if EU agrees to it – is another pinprick. For more on what happened lately in Macedonia see: Macedonia Coup Attempt – War Against Russia & China (LRL12) and my upcoming LRL14 episode about Camp Bondsteel and Kosovo. Subscribe to Lada Ray Channel to keep on top of new videos.

However, this is still not all. The new attempted ‘electric maidan’ in Armenia (under the pretext of 16-17% hike in the price of electricity!) is yet another pinprick.

And the crowning pinprick achievement: Saakashvili as the governor of Odessa and subsequent attempts by Ukraine and Romania to re-ignite the Pridnestrovie conflict! I will soon have new LadaRayLive analytical episodes about that. Stay tuned for these new revelations.

Conclusions:

Everything is going the way I predicted. I warned from the start that US would not accept defeat, and wouldn’t look quietly as its power and dollar dominance are slipping away. Unlike the USSR in 1991, which disbanded quietly and peacefully, It would fight tooth and claw, trying to drag everyone with it into the abyss. I also said that USA’s prime directive is not only to weaken Russia and EU, but also put a wedge between the two, especially, between the what was a newly thriving relationship between Russia and Germany.

Will Russia lose her cool because of these pinpricks? Nope. Russia, as predicted from the beginning, will again achieve a slow change in her favor through quiet and peaceful means.

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About Lada Ray

Lada Ray is a linguist & former financial consultant with Smith Barney. Born in Russia, Lada lived and traveled to nearly 30 countries on most continents. She is the internationally certified Feng Shui Master and author of 3 novels + multiple novelettes; most notably, top-rated metaphysical thriller THE EARTH SHIFTER & bestselling thriller GOLD TRAIN (Accidental Spy Russia Adventure). Lada has extensively written re. Russia, world cultures, geopolitics, empire collapse, feng shui and consciousness. She is known for her accurate predictions.
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This will only prove without a doubt Putin is the master chess player.look at Obama’s life history, he was an abused kid…intentionally…trauma based mind controll.he is serving the very entities who set up his abusive treatment.he’s one very sick …whatever, & he is not American yet our alphabet boys go along with the lunatics, at least some do, I have to beleive we have a greater majority of good alphabets that is just waiting for the moment they really panic & hold up somewhere.they’ll all be found and givin a trial by jury.

I had just read,on the Kremlin web site that putin & Obama had a phone conversation.apparently he is leaving Victoria neuland and a Russian representative to restore the minx agreement.is this another stall for time thing ?.

I would say there is already a war, but it is not the kind we usually think of. It is fought in economics and PR and technology and diplomacy. So the US will try to build an Iron Curtain from the Baltics to Odessa. Right now, they are steadily building up their military in Eastern Europe and they will want to take over the Western Ukraine most likely. So a big fight might be over Odessa. And more pinpricks.

I think where Russia is most vulnerable is in economics. Putin has done a good job of keeping Russian oligarchs on his side, but the West might at some point do what was done in the Ukraine and threaten them and their families in the West. A weak point is that most businesses have needed financing from the West as the rates inside Russia seem very bad.

So don’t be surprised if one of the big pinpricks is something on the economic front. I read that explosives were found near a Russian dam and that security is being increased at all dams. That kind of thing is also possible, and it is even possible that weather weapons might be used. US elites haven’t worked for this long and come this close to give up on their dreams of a New World Order.

“I read that explosives were found near a Russian dam and that security is being increased at all dams.”
And it’s not just any dam – it was near a dam on the Channel of Moscow. Damage to it would have severely compromised water supplies to the capital, as well as the flow of goods. Another possibility is that the explosives were just kept there for use elsewhere in Moscow.

Yukos case is so backward-treated by Europe. It’s as if EU says: “go on, tax evasion is perfectly fine”.

There is another asset seizure going on – that of people, connected to the Magnitskij case. That was another politicized and blown-out of proportion internal Russian matter, when a suspect arrested on charges of tax evasion died in police custody. US soon after created a “Magnitskij list” putting over 20 people, connected to investigation and arrest of Magnitskij on a sanctions list. Now they are going further, undoubtedly emboldened by the Yukos-swindle development.

Back in the days such actions would definitely be treated as a declaration of war. But Putin is not Nikolai II to voluntarily draw Russia into somebody else’s war. As long as NATO troops don’t cross Russian border, war will be avoided.

I knew something was fishy with that oligarch Khodorkovsky’s and his likes. And as always stupid is as stupid does.. interesting enough the ignorance in the Westerna part of the world is so heavily adapted so they can’t even back track…

The West.. “Well we always get what we want.. check out Latin America, Korea, Vietnam.. the Middle East.. put some nasty puppets here and there create havoc.. and let the country implode while we take their resources… works everytime… but heck.. why are those Russians not falling for it as they did last time?”

Putin has so many aces up his sleeve so everyone who’s Russiofobic.. will get a nervous brake down.. once he starts to play them out for real one by one..

Another pinprick is the current situation in Armenia. Like a lot of the ex-Soviet world, it is very corrupt and has an incompetent government. As in the case of the Ukraine, there are probably ten or fifty times as many professional pro-Western people as pro-Russian ones. So it is going to require a lot of finesse by the Kremlin to try to tame things. The masses can only tolerate so much before things explode. Yanukovich being so widely hated caused a lot of problems for Russia.

I look forward to your video. I certainly follow Armenia a fair bit, and would say that the corruption and incompetence are huge problems, along with the economic problems from being in a geographical prison. And the Western NGOs and media. Obviously, there are no huge paramilitary groups funded by the West, and the people have a relatively positive view of Russia. The 1950’s to 1970’s were a golden age for Armenia.

I don’t expect an anti-Russian government or anything, but chaos and elite infighting could cause trouble. As you mentioned, a pinprick.

When you do something on Armenia, you might want to cover the issue that many countries near Russia have tried to sit on two chairs. They want to do business with both the West and Russia/Eurasian Union. But the West and especially the US have no need for that as it is better to blow up a country than allow such a situation to continue. And the young people don’t really realize this strategy as the media and cultural sphere are so dominated by Western material, and have been for 25 years.